Citing a leaked DIA assessment, CNN reported that the U.S. military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months. The DIA assessment was based on a battle damage assessment conducted by U.S. Central Command in the aftermath of the U.S. strikes, one of the sources said. The Defense Intelligence Agency is a part of the Department of Defense.
The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available. But, CNN says, the early findings are at odds with Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said on June 22 that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “have been obliterated.”
Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One of the people said the centrifuges are largely “intact.” Another source said that the intelligence assessed enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the U.S. strikes. “So the (DIA) assessment is that the U.S. set them back maybe a few months, tops,” this individual added.
